One Word Can Change the World
by Scribe of Turesa
Summary: Sometimes all you can do is cling to the hope that you allow yourself to have and pray that you lose nothing. What We Hide-OneShot.6


**Disclaimer: ****I don't own the TMNT. **

**Leo and his brothers are 30 years old. Tony is 36.**

****Warning** This fic contains something that may be disturbing to some. Please if you choose to read do not flame this fic but rather comment concerning the quality of the writing.****

**Read **_**What We Hide**_**, **_**Learning a New Dance,**__**Contemplation**_**, **_**Never Say Never,**__**What is Love? **_** and **_**Heart Beats**_** before this please or you will be lost.**

****6th Installment of the Oneshots between **_**What We Hide**_** and the Sequel.****

**One Word Can Change the World**

**Tony's POV**

Leo, Mike, and Raph are preparing the Shell-sub and Don is hesitating in the kitchen. They are just about ready to leave to go get Meir.

He looks a bit too pale for my comfort and I move forward to get a better look at him.

"Don?" I offer softly, "Are you ok?"

"Just a little dizzy and I have a headache is all," he whispers, gingerly rubbing the side of his head.

He starts to move towards the Shell-sub and suddenly everything unravels.

Abruptly, to my horror, he begins to seize slightly. He loses his balance and crumples towards the floor, his whole body folding up like a marionette.

"LEO!" I shriek before darting forward to catch Don's crumpling form.

His head rests on my shoulder as he jerks and twitches in my arms. He's moaning and shaking.

Then Don gives an odd sort of jerk in my arms and lays there whimpering as Leo's knees crack against the cement floor.

"He had a seizure!" I gasp, "He said he had a headache."

Leo gently checks Don's pulse and frowns.

"His heart is racing," he mutters softly as Mike and Raph reach us.

"Donnie? Dude? What's wrong?" Mike asks desperately, leaning over after he kneels to inspect his brother.

"Leo?" Raph asks.

Leo shakes his head.

"I'm not sure," he answers Raph before looking back at Don's limp form slumped against me.

"Don," I say softly, on the edge of being frantic, "Can you hear me? We need your help to help you…what is going on?"

Don groans and struggles to reply, when he finally does the sense of dread that washes over me is nothing compared to the look of pure unaltered horror on Leo's face.

"…aneurysm," he whispers weakly.

"Don?" Leo struggles, "why didn't you tell us?"

"Meir," Don mumbles, shuddering against me, "head….hurts…"

"What does that mean?" Mike asks, "Leo? Raph? Tony? _What does that mean?"_

Raph hasn't said anything until now.

"A blood vessel just broke in his brain," Raph whispers softly.

Mike's head snaps from Raph to Leo then to me and Don.

"You'll be ok right?" he asks weakly, reaching out to touch his brother's hand.

Don tries to turn his head and whimpers instead.

He's in pain, the fact that he hasn't had another seizure is pure dumb luck at this point, let alone the fact that he is still alive.

"They're fatal Mike," Raph whispers before kneeling and reaching out to take Don's hand. I see the tears and I know at this point Raph is trying to ease Don's passing as best he can.

Mike sobs and shakes his head in panic, hand gripping Don's in desperation.

"_No_," he chokes out, "Donnie don't go!"

I struggle to hold back tears as I hear Leo struggling to hold back his own beside me.

Then Leo jerks forward and scoops Don before I can say anything.

"Not on my watch," he growls out, tears on his cheeks before turning and carrying Don towards the door.

"Leo?!" Raph calls in panic.

"NOT ON MY WATCH," Leo shouts at us as he exits.

I'm up and running after him with Mike and Raph scrambling behind.

When we finally catch up I am struggling to catch my breath but I understand what Leo is trying to do.

Leo is at LH's and LH is prepping the healing pod. Leo is kneeling holding Don close as the purple clad turtle suffers through another seizure.

Don's moans of pain tear at my heart and I can't help closing my eyes and begging a prayer that Don lives through this unscathed.

"Leonardo, now if we are going to try this," LH orders gently and Leo stands, still cradling Don's jerking frame.

This seizure is more severe and Don is alternating between being completely rigid and utterly limp in Leo's arms.

Leo eases him into the pod and secures the breathing mask while LH inserts the needle for the sedative in one quick motion.

Don is gripping Leo's hand as he sags limp in the pod. Leo steps back throws the door shut and LH hits the button to fill the pod with liquid.

None of us can move as the pod fills and Don is floating.

All we can do now is hope…

After what seems like hours I turn and look at Leo.

"Go," I choke out, "I'll stay… go get Meir."

Leo looks at me and I see the extreme distress and fear in his gaze.

"Don't leave him," he whispers desperately.

"I won't. I'll stay here until you all get back. But Don would want you to help Meir," I whisper.

Leo takes a centering breath as I step up to him. He's shaking so bad, it takes him a good five minutes to get a hold of himself.

I hold his hand the whole time, pressing our foreheads together, and whisper softly my own desperate words of comfort.

He says something sharply to his brothers in Japanese after pulling away and Mike gives him a despairing look before obviously deciding between Meir and his brother.

There is nothing else he can do for Don now, but he can help Meir.

Raph's fists clench, he walks up and presses a hand to the pod before whispering something I barely catch.

After he finishes he turns, scrubs his face and storms back towards the Lair with Mike being gently tugged behind by Leo.

I turn and sink to the floor, leaning against the wall and stare in shock at the pod.

This can't be happening…..

LH gently touches my shoulder and I slowly look up at him. He's offering me a cup of tea.

"Do you have anything stronger?" I hear myself ask weakly.

I'm in desperate need of a stiff drink. My nerves are completely shot.

LH smiles sadly shuffles off and comes back with a glass of what smells like whiskey. It burns on the way down but I fell myself stop shaking so bad and I work up the courage to ask LH what the pod's diagnostics are saying.

He replies with a grave tone.

"Donatello has what appears to be a minor tumor pressing against a broken blood vessel on the frontal right lobe of his brain," LH murmurs.

I press my free hand into my eyes and flinch.

"Will the pod undo the damage?" I ask weakly.

"Due to the quickness of Leonardo's actions there is a 75% probability that he will survive unscathed…but there is the 25% chance that if Donatello lives he will…no…longer have the full function of his brain and…" LH pauses giving me a sad look, "he may lose his memories."

I finish off the glass of whiskey and set the glass down before dropping to my knees and folding my hands in prayer.

I have maintained my belief in a higher being despite the way most Christians react towards homosexuals, mostly because of the Priest in my Church as a child. He told me that God _hates no one_; that we each share an equal amount of love and no sin is greater than another in his eyes.

I remain that way for what seems like hours, praying, pleading, begging God to grant me this one miracle.

LH hands me a rosary after a time, I don't care where he found it, and I continue softly reciting every prayer, every Hail Mary, every plea I can think of.

I do not know how long I sit there with LH watching over Donatello and I, as I pray, but I don't dare stop.

Because I don't want to lose this brother if I can do anything to stop it.

**A/N: So…found out what the morphine is for…hang in there folks. Sequel starts up next. Look for **_**What We Hide II: Secrets Don't Make Friends**_** it'll be a few days to a week most likely before I start posting it.**


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